Yahoo! wraps US music tour with fun

Jun 02, 2013

Members of the Grammy-winning band fun. sign a Yahoo music road tour guitar case with Yahoo chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt (R) before performing a concert in San Francisco on May 31, 2013.

Yahoo! treated a select group of fans to a private performance of Grammy-winning band fun., wrapping up a cross-country music tour aimed at re-introducing people to the Internet pioneer.

"It's been quite a ride," Yahoo! chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt said before fun. took to the stage late Friday in the Masonic Center on San Francisco's upscale Nob Hill.

"I'm sort of the ceremonial bus driver of the Yahoo! tour."

Yahoo! On The Road kicked off in New York City on May 3 with a performance by John Legend and the Salome Chamber Orchestra, and then traveled across the United States.

To have chances at getting into shows, Yahoo! users took part in challenges geared at promoting the California-based Internet firm's software applications, such as by taking smartphone photos using Flickr.

In an online clip from a brief interview at a Milwaukee concert hall where Macklemore was about to perform, Yahoo! chief Marissa Mayer said she was "really excited" about the tour getting people to experience what is new at the company.

Mayer—among Google's first employees—became one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley when she was appointed Yahoo! chief executive in July.

Yahoo! has been re-inventing itself as a premier online content venue since the pioneering Internet search firm found itself withering in Google's shadow.

Different artists performed in each of the tour's shows, and the lineup included Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy and The Lumineers.

Yahoo! is set to launch a European leg of the music tour in Berlin on June 11 with Los Angeles rock duo Capital Cities.

"We are hopping over the pond and we are going to drive from Berlin to London, stopping every day," Savitt said. "We will have everyone from Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake to Frank Ocean and Emeli Sande."

Video clips of performances and information about the tour is available online at ontheroad.yahoo.com.

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